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My research focuses on making students more eager, capable, independent, and innovative learners, using Intelligent Learning Environments.
 
I believe that curiosity is a key to better life. Asking questions drives the quest for answers. Finding these allow us to choose and change. We take responsibility on our lives. We act.
 
Curious people are the ones who tend to ask more questions, but they should also be able to find the answers. Becoming a "successful" curious person is not a simple task. I believe that curiosity is a natural tendency of the human being. However, unsuccessful searches decrease the likelihood of asking. In my research I attempt to help people carry out successful searches, and thus, dare to ask for more.
 
In order to achieve that, my research spans along three interwoven threads:
  • Innovation: How can we encourage innovation in learning? How can we assist people in applying existing knowledge in new situations?
  • Metacognition: How can we help students manage their learning process better? Knowledge of one's own knowledge (metacognition) and regulation of that knowledge (self-regulated learning) are important especially under dynamic conditions of uncertainty, as we all experience in everyday life. How can we teach metacognitive skills in a way that persists beyond the learning environment?
  • Motivation: The eagerness to learn and improve, which drives the use of self-regulated strategies, is based on ones motivation for success. Having the ability to learn is useless without exercising it. How can we improve students' intrinsic motivation?
Intelligent Learning Environments are a great mean to achieve these goals. They offer rich interaction context, enable individual tutoring at low cost, and connect formal learning to the real world. 

The emerging learning sciences offer the methodological toolbox to address these challenges. Tools such as cognitive modeling, task analysis, and data mining offer us a window into the learning mechanisms of the human brain. How do people learn to learn?

Please see Projects for more details.